Tuesday, September 16, 2014

University of California Plans $250M Venture Capital Fund

Startups related to the many University of California campuses in Southern California may soon have a new source of funding: The University of California itself, via a new, $250M venture capital fund. According to UC President Janet Napolitano, the UC Board of Regents is voting this week on approving the $250M fund, UC Ventures, which is expected to launch in 2015. The fund would seek to invest in companies started on campus, from University research, and from students. The fund would come from the UC endowment, and no tuition or state funding will be used, according to the UC system. The University of California has ten campuses, of which half of them are in Southern California, including UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, and UC Santa Barbara. Among the successes driving the creation of the fund was the IPO of Santa Monica-based Kite Pharma, which is a spinout of UCLA.

Image courtesy Chris Radcliff, via Flickr

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